Slurry saws are well known devices for cutting hard bodies of crystalline materials such as quartz, silicon, germanium, semiconductor or gem stone materials and the like, into thin slices or wafers. The blades generally are softer than the material being cut, and cutting is effected by abrasive particles introduced in the form of a slurry into the interface between the blade and the material to be cut. Slurry saws and blade assemblies therefor and their operation are, for example, described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,272,195; 3,556,075; 3,845,541; 3,889,699; 4,092,971; 4,092,972 and 4,105,012. For use in slurry saws, it is desirable to use the thinnest blade possible because the thickness of the cut, which is determined by the thickness of the blade, and the abrasive between the blade and the material being cut, represents waste. On the other hand, to insure blade rigidity in the cutting operation, the slurry saw blades must be highly tensed. Tension required to insure rigidity generally increases with decreasing blade thickness so that, as a practical limitation, conventionally used slurry saw blades made of steel have thickness in the order of typically at least about 0.2 millimeter. Additionally, high hardness is a desirable characteristic of steel for use in slurry saw blades in order to reduce blade wear. Slurry saw blades, of course, are not sharpened since they do not rely for cutting action on a sharpened edge.
It is an object of the present invention to provide slurry saw blade head assemblies which afford savings in production cost, particularly through reduced yield losses.